Indian Cardinal Telesphore Toppo arrives for a meeting of pre-conclave on March 9, 2013, at the Vatican. / Credit: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images
CNA Staff, Oct 6, 2023 / 12:25 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis sent a message of condolence following the death of Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi, India, in an Oct. 5 telegram to the local Church in India.
“Having learned with sadness of the death of Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, archbishop emeritus of Ranchi, please accept my heartfelt condolences, which I extend also to the clergy, religious, and lay faithful of the archdiocese,” Pope Francis said.
Toppo died at the age of 84 following three months in the hospital, finally succumbing to cardiac arrest on Oct. 4, according to Vatican News.
Toppo was the “first and only cardinal of the tribal communities of Asia,” Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said in an Oct. 5 letter following his death.
Pope Francis said in his telegram: “I recall with immense gratitude the late cardinal’s years of dedicated priestly and episcopal ministry to the local churches of Dumka and Ranchi, as well as his contributions to the wider Church in India and to the Apostolic See.”
“His service was always marked by zeal for the spread of the Gospel, devotion to the Holy Eucharist, and generous pastoral care of the poor and those in need,” the Holy Father said.
“To all who mourn Cardinal Toppo’s passing in the sure hope of the resurrection, I cordially impart my blessing as a pledge of consolation and peace in the Lord,” he concluded.
Born in Chainpur, India, and according to La Croix, a member of the tribal Oraon community, Toppo was ordained a priest on May 3, 1969. He studied for the priesthood at the Regional Major Seminary of St. Albert’s College in Ranchi and continued his studies at St. Xavier’s College in Ranchi, earning a bachelor’s degree, and at Ranchi University, earning a master’s degree in history. Toppo also went to Rome to study theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana College.
He was first elevated to the episcopate in 1978, when he was ordained bishop of Dumka in eastern India.
Toppo served both as a teacher and headmaster at St. Joseph’s High School in Torpa.
In 1984, he was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Ranchi and succeeded his predecessor on Aug. 25, 1985, when he was installed. He served in that role until June 24, 2018.
Appointed cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003, Toppo participated in both conclaves that elected Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.
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A person walks past an area of a damaged building that is cordoned off following a 7.5-magnitude earthquake on April 3, 2024, in Hualien, Taiwan. / Credit: Annabelle Chih/Getty Images
Rome Newsroom, Apr 4, 2024 / 10:45 am (CNA).
The Vatican on … […]
Bishop Stephen Chow’s ordination as bishop in Hong Kong’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Dec. 5, 2021 / Screenshot from livestream
Rome Newsroom, Dec 4, 2021 / 03:00 am (CNA).
Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan was ordained a bishop in Hong Kong’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday.
“As a successor to the Apostles by the grace of Almighty God, I request your constant prayers that I may always be loyal to God’s will as a shepherd to the People of God in Hong Kong, and faithfully carry out my duties,” Chow said at the Mass on Dec. 4.
Cardinal John Tong Hon, the apostolic administrator of Hong Kong, presided over the Mass. Cardinal Joseph Zen and auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha were co-celebrants.
“Through the Bishop’s wisdom and prudence, it is Christ himself who leads you in your earthly pilgrimage toward eternal happiness,” Tong said in his homily, according to the diocese of Hong Kong.
“He has been entrusted with the task of bearing witness to the truth of the Gospel, and with the ministry of the Spirit and of justice,” he said.
During the Mass, Chow laid face down on the floor in total surrender to God as the congregation recited the Litany of the Saints in Cantonese.
Bishop Chow said in a brief speech at the end of the Mass that he wanted to help “foster healing and connections” in the Catholic community in his “beloved hometown.”
“As the bishop, it is my desire to be a bridge between the government and the church in Hong Kong and between the Catholic Church, fellow Christian denominations, and other religions,” he said.
“It is through sincere connection with one another, including within our own diocese that emphatic understanding can be established, appreciation can be fostered, respect and trust can be deepened, and hopefully collaboration can become a living culture in our community.”
Chow also read aloud an excerpt from a letter that he recently received from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J. The archbishop emeritus of Ottawa-Cornwall wrote: “Given the history of the church in China and Hong Kong, Catholicism can no longer be seen as a foreign religion, but as integral to Hong Kong society.”
More than 6,000 people tuned in live to watch Chow’s consecration Mass on YouTube.
Among those watching the livestream were priests and seminarians in Italy from the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME), who have launched a prayer campaign for the newly consecrated bishop.
Father Gianni Criveller, who is helping to organize the campaign at the PIME missionary seminary in the Italian city of Monza, told UCA News that he knows that Bishop Chow will face “great difficulties and challenges.”
“The long-awaited consecration of the bishop calls for prayer and solidarity. Bishop Stephen has a very difficult task ahead of him humanly. In fact, it seems nearly impossible. However, we believe in the power of prayer and in the communion of those who entrust their lives to the Lord Jesus,” he said.
Pope Francis appointed Chow to be bishop of Hong Kong in May. Before his appointment, Hong Kong had been without a permanent bishop since January 2019.
Chow, 62, previously served as the provincial of the Jesuits’ Chinese Province. In that role, he led the Jesuit order in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China as the Vatican-China deal was first signed and during the crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy protest movement.
Born in Hong Kong in 1959, Chow went on to study in the United States, earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota, before entering the Society of Jesus in Dublin, Ireland at the age of 25.
During his Jesuit novitiate, he obtained a licentiate in philosophy in Ireland and then returned in 1988 to Hong Kong, where he was ordained to the priesthood on July 16, 1994.
Chow continued his studies at Loyola University in Chicago, where he earned a master’s degree in organizational development in 1995. He spent the next five years working as a campus minister, vocations director, and ethics teacher at Wah Yan College in Kowloon and Hong Kong.
In 2000, Chow began a doctoral program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education studying development and psychology. He graduated with a Doctorate in Education in 2006.
The following year, he made his final vows in the Jesuit order and worked as an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong from 2008 to 2015 and Jesuit Formator from 2009 to 2017. He also served as the president of the Chinese Jesuit Province’s education commission since 2009 and the Hong Kong Diocesan Council for Education since 2017.
Chow began his role as provincial of the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus on Jan. 1, 2018.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kongers have historically enjoyed freedom of worship and evangelization, while in mainland China, by contrast, there is a long history of persecution for Christians who run afoul of the government.
With the 2020 passage of new “national security laws,” the Chinese government seized more power to suppress pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which it sees as a direct challenge to its power.
Hong Kong’s National Security Law is broad in its definitions of terrorism, sedition, and foreign collusion. Under the law, a person who is convicted of the aforementioned crimes will receive a minimum of 10 years in prison, with the possibility of a life sentence.
On April 16, authorities in Hong Kong sentenced several Catholic pro-democracy figures, including lawyer Martin Lee and media tycoon Jimmy Lai, to prison sentences under the new security law.
“Hong Kong is going through perhaps the most dramatic phase of its history and has almost disappeared from the radar of international attention. However, those who love Hong Kong have not forgotten it,” Criveller said.
Respectful farewell to His Eminence Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Telesphore Toppo. In Paradisum Deducant te Angeli.